The Beggening
by IloveZimandNny16
Summary: We all know about the ghost girl that haunted Rephiam right? Wrong. We don't know anything about her. Well this is her story; how she died, how she lived, and why she wasn't afraid of Rephiam when she first saw him. NOTE: This is just a fandom theory nothing official, so shut up. Also its sorta a prequel/sequel to "Reunited". Rated K for now, but some MAJOR shipping is involved.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay…. So through some serious hard coaxing from a certain someone who shall remain nameless… Translation very little… I decided to write this bitch! In the hopes to at least see this tale through my eyes. It may seem "Out of Nowhere" at first but trust me it goes somewhere… So just buckle up and enjoy the ride!**

**Disclaimer: Anything remotely associated with the House of Night belongs to P.C. and Kristen Cast… I am merely writing my own thoughts and theories of their tale.**

"Charlotte Diane Gilcrease, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?" A young man asked his beloved, bowing down on one knee offering her a beautiful ring with a big, bright diamond in the shape of a heart shining in the middle.

The woman named Charlottle stared at him with big bright eyes overflowing with tears of happiness of the moment.

"Yes! Oh Henry, yes! I accept!" Charlotte cried out, allowing him to slip the ring on and kissing him romantically, despite their cheering audience.

There was no doubt in everyone's mind, this ball was merely a proposal party designed to announce the upcoming marriage of one Charlotte Gilcrease and Henry Turnform; Though the most people that were cheering belonged to the family members of the new, soon-to-be, happy couple.

After they broke they're kiss they turned back to their approving audience and waved at their respectable familes.

Henry's family was small but highly wealthy, but only made up of his parents and his two younger brothers. So while they cheered for him, it was Charlotte's bigger family that cheered the loudest.

And it was Charlotte's family, the Gilcrease family that had planned this entire event. The Gilcrease family was one of the most known and wealthiest families in the entire town of Tulsa, and many people believed that they might even be more so. It was also a rather big family.

Charles Gilcrease, the obvious head of the family, and also the CEO of his newspaper business in Tulsa, along with his wife Tiffany, had five children, including their now betrothed daughter. However, Charlotte was the second eldest daughter in the family, but not the first to be asked her hand in marriage. That position belongs to Tabitha, the eldest daughter and child in the Gilcrease family, at the age of 20 now, she had married four years ago to her husband Fredric, the son of her father's business partner.

Charles did have sons though; twin boys in fact! However they were just born several months ago, so they are still just babies. Their names were John and George.

And last but not least there was Charles' youngest daughter, only 6 years old and yet was quite talented. Her name was Cindy.

And out of all the people who congratulated her sister's proposal with happiness and joy, she was the one who felt most excited about it. Her sister was getting married! How could she not get excited about that!

"Cindy calm yourself." She heard her mother tell her, placing a delicate hand on her shoulder.

Cindy was surprised to find herself jittery, but immediately calmed, when she felt herself acting childlike and foolish in front of her mother in public.

"Sorry mother." She said, still not being able to contain her excitement down though. She practically beamed; her smile practically taking over her face.

It wasn't until her sister came up to her that she let go of her manners for a bit.

"Congradu-ations Sissy!" she slurred, racing up to her sister and giving her the biggest hug she could give. Cindy heard the other party members say congratulations before, but she never really had time to practice saying it herself.

"Thank you Cindy. I was hoping to get your seal of approval." Charlotte said, smiling at her little sister's silliness.

"Cindy!" a sharp voice rang out, making Cindy flinch.

"Sorry mother, but I was just too excited!" Cindy apologized, turning around to face her mother's disapproving head shake.

"Oh Cindy, whatever am I to do with you?" Her mother said, then forgetting her trouble and started smiling at her elder daughter.

"Charlotte, I am so happy for you on this day!" She said, giving her a motherly embrace, then standing back to look at her fully, as if she hadn't done so for years.

Cindy still wanted to wish her older sister good tidings for her engagement, but the rest of her family started to swarm, leaving her out.

Well that wasn't particularly true. Her father came in and said his good wishes, followed by Cindy's eldest sister. Too soon the three elder women in Cindy's life started talking non-stop, making Cindy's head spin.

"If you want Sugar-plum, you can go play in the outer fields." She heard her father tell her, after feeling him place a steady hand on her well kept head, slightly a skewing her perfectly tied up bow.

She looked up to her father with bright eyes.

She loved exploring the fields in their yard.

"Really Father?" She asked, hoping she heard him right.

"Really, Cindy. But be careful you don't ruin that dress your mother bought for you, ya here?" Her father teased. Her only response was to giggle at him and run off.

"And be sure not to go too far away!" He called out to her, knowing that she probably already knew the command.

"Don't wanna get captured by them red skins and their injun problems now…" Charles said softly, so that no one would hear him. He knew they were only rumors, but since his land and yard was stretched so far, it almost reached the Indian Territory. He'd gotten so many jokes from his business partners of his choice of living space, that he'd learn to ignore them entirely. However it had started hearing rumors some deviant was out there killing and raping those red skins.

Every time he tried to look into it, folks would always say the same thing. _"Those Red Skins will say anything if they thought it could evoke pity for them to give 'em back their land." _But he couldn't be sure.

Did he go and check? Hell no, there wasn't one damn thing he could do to even plan so otherwise. But he still worried.

Real or not it was a terrible threat and fear to have some maniac go around killing and raping people, especially with him having three daughters. True he was happier that he finally had sons, but that didn't mean he didn't love his daughters as well.

But those problems had to be cast aside; this was a moment of celebration now, and he wasn't about to waste it worrying about some silly injun rumors.

Meanwhile….

Though she was upset at not having the amount of time she wanted to have with her sister, Cindy still enjoyed to opportunity this freedom of being outside gave her. She was hardly ever let outside for most certain days, not to say that she never goes outside, she just hardly ever gets to go exploring the garden this far out.

Usually Cindy liked to play near the gazebo with her sisters, or splash and play around near the fountain with her Nanny, without her mother knowing of course. But those places were taken up thanks to the party, so Cindy decided that now was a good as time as any to explore new places to play.

That was when she discovered the forest. She hadn't ever been to this side of the yard before, and she only had to assume that she never ventured out this far before either. Still she was drawn ever closer to it, excitement the only thing that was fueling her now.

She'd never been in a forest before. She heard of tales, told by her nanny, of people who would find wondrous thing and grand adventures in the forest. But Cindy never even imagined that one could be so close to her own home.

A part of her was deathly afraid to enter, because it was unknown, and though it was the middle of the day, the forest looked dark.

But Cindy was oh so curious. She couldn't let the opportunity to explore something like this pass her by.

Hesitantly, she stepped a foot in the forest, giggling at the action. Then she took another step, and another, and another…

Soon, driven by her own excitement, she started running head long into the forest, giggling the entire way, not really knowing where she was going; just that she was having her own little adventure.

The rustling of feathers was the only thing that snapped her out of her bliss.

She looked up towards the noise, only to find a flock of birds apparently getting spooked and taking off in flight.

Cindy just stared in wonder.

They seemed to fly off to a certain location, but as to where Cindy couldn't place. She was half tempted to follow them to see where they were going, but she knew it would be a fruitless journey seeing as how she lost them before even taking a small step towards them.

Then she heard another noise.

It sounded like the rustle of feathers again, but it sounded too close to the ground, like a bird was left behind squiggling about on the ground floor, trying to flap its wings but failing.

Cindy headed off in the direction the noise was coming from, hoping that she could find the grounded bird and help it. But it seemed the more she ran in the direction of the noise, the more the noise moved away from her, like whatever was making the noise was afraid of her and tried to run away. This just motivated her to run a bit longer, ignoring the pinching in her feet from her newest shoes that mother bought her for the party: Shoes that were not made for running, shoes that were made to be fashionable and look nice.

Finally the noise stopped, but it took Cindy a good while to figure that out and finally stop herself; quickly getting short of breath with all the hard impact she had to endure in her tightly tied and tailored dress.

Clutching her chest with her tiny hand, Cindy let in big puffs of breaths in and out of her body, silently thanking God that her mother wasn't here to see her look like this. Her mother would practically black out if she heard that any daughter of hers was gasping so heavily like this.

"Hello?" Cindy asked out in between her heavy breaths.

"Is… Anyone…" She tried to talk but couldn't find it in herself to find the right words to come out. Though that mostly had to do with the fact that she still found it difficult to breath regularly. Even her vision started getting blurry.

However, she soon started to recover from her run and found herself breathing a little bit easier. And once she started calming down did she hear the strange land rustling again.

She looked around, hoping to locate the source, her breath still coming in and out in big gasps. If any one were to observe her without knowledge, they would assume that she was in a panic, though that was far from the truth; she was merely curious and was still recovering from her run.

She had the fleeting thought that maybe her mother was right… Girls really weren't made to do any kind of sport.

While she was searching around the woods around her, the sound kept getting louder and louder to her ears.

And then she found them.

She almost passed them; she was searching around her so feverently. But when she did see them, her eyes were immediately drawn back to them, stilling her heavy breathing if not just for a moment.

Because what she saw was two great big glowing red eyes, and they seemed to stare strait at her from the blackness of the shadows from the shade of the trees. A small part of her probably realized that she probably went too far into the forest than she realized since it was still day time and the shadows shouldn't even be that dark, but there it was… Darkness, with two red eyes staring her down. And it seemed to be coming closer towards her.

Cindy hadn't realized that she had started backing away from the red eyes until she felt her back hit the base of a tree, nearly clonking her head.

The red eyes still stared at her and she tried to see why they were staring at her, however the only thing she could note about them was that they were human looking if not for their color.

Those red eyes still kept coming closer to her, and all too soon Cindy was able to see a figure form from the shadows around the eyes the closer it got to the light.

It looked like giant bird at first, but the closer the silhouette came the more Cindy thought it looked like a boy than it did a bird.

And then it stepped into the light.

Cindy let in a gasp of air she hadn't realized she blocked out until just now, hardly daring to let it out.

Because she was actually right to assume both her thoughts of this person with the red eyes. He looked like a giant black bird alright, complete with a very scary looking beak on his face, and giant, unfurled wings to his back. But he also had human arms by his side, with dirty, scrapped looking hands, and as if he had previously had tried to dig through the ground before spotting her. He also had two human legs that kept striding forward towards her.

He obviously looked much bigger than her, but then again, being 6 Cindy was naturally, normally small, but his height did serve to send a small bolt of fear through her. And yet she couldn't look away from him she had never seen anything like him before.

"What are you?" She asked before she could stop herself, her curiosity triumphing over her fear yet again.

He stopped dead in his tracks, like he didn't expect her to speak to him.

He didn't say anything, but just cocked his bird head to the side as if confused, though that was the only indication to Cindy that told her that he was confused.

"You're not a bird, but you have wings. And you're not a boy, but you have arms and legs." Cindy noted out trying to explain her question to him, pointing out to specific limbs on his body, making him turn his head around to stare at them, like he just discovered what they were called.

"And your eyes are like a boys too, only they're red." She said, pointing to her own eyes, and then to his as if she could point out the obvious difference in color between them. Though she found it incredibly hard to look to look away from his eyes, they almost held her in an invisible cage only he could see.

"So what are you?" She asked again, daring to take another couple steps closer to him.

His response was to crouch down to the ground, like an animal and make a frightening, animalistic sound, which made her jump back a little in a startled shriek. The sound that came out of his mouth, or beak, didn't sound like any bird she'd ever heard of. In fact he almost sounded like a snake… If a snake's hiss could growl that is. And not only that, but Cindy was sure that the look she could see in his strange, trapping, red eyes, was something like anger.

He came closer to her, he still hissed at her, though she couldn't see where the sound was emanating from. His beak was closed, and she doubted that any creature could make a sound like that without having to at least have some open space in their mouth.

And yet she still wasn't afraid.

She just kept staring at him, looking into those great, big, red eyes of his; She didn't even notice when he finally made a move, and pounced on her. Before she could even comprehend what was happening, she was pinned to the ground, the air, momentarily knocked from her lungs in a high pitched grunt from her. She clunked her head, but that was the least of her worries, as her whole back was screaming at her from the shock of hitting the floor, no matter how many leaves had fallen to cushion her fall.

She looked up to see that this bird-boy had his legs, for the most part, pinning down her lower body, making it hard for her to try to wiggle out. And not only that, but she apparently had he hands to her sides, because they were apparently trapped in between his legs as well. The only thing that was keeping her from raising her upper body was the fact that he forcibly placed his hand down on her chest, proving that he was way stronger than he looked. At to her, he looked pretty strong. She finally managed to bring her eyes up forward to look at him again. He was still staring her, with what she could only describe as a foreign glare in his red eyes. It was foreign to her either by the fact that its color threw her off, or she didn't know why he was glaring.

Slowly, he finally reached his beaked face down to hers, and suddenly, Cindy was ultra aware of how sharp his beak looked. But surly it couldn't be that sharp… Right?

Cindy tried to rack her brain for anything she remembered about certain birds and their beaks. But all she could remember was some theory she heard mother complain about that apparently mocked the church that talked about different bird beaks.

"So, what are you called?" Cindy asked again, hoping that this was just his way of introducing himself. She had heard from her father that different people like to greet each other in strange and unusual ways. And he certainly was a different person.

He stopped and looked at her funny again.

"Want… to know, why… you would?" He finally said, which made her owns eyes widen with a huge amount of shock. She had never heard anybody talk like that. His voice held a hiss within it that still didn't even sound human. And each word, no, syllable he spoke sounded forced and messy, like he rarely ever spoke, and was still trying to get used to the habit. It took her a moment to even put the words he said into a sentence and understand what he even asked!

"I want to know because I'm curious. I've never seen anything like you before." Cindy finally answered him once she was sure she understood what he said.

He let her go at those words, and she managed to lift herself off, never letting go of her gaze on him, as he did the same for her. Though she stared at him mostly because she couldn't find it in herself to look anywhere now. And she could tell that he was staring at her through more curious eyes than anything.

"Do you have a name?" She asked, finally standing up to dust the mess he made on her dress off.

"Name?" He asked, drawling out the word slowly, like it was the first time he had ever heard it.

"Uh-huh… You know, what people call you. Your title, your identity." She tried to explain to him, he only just stared at her like the words she used were completely foreign to him.

"Uhm… Oh! For example, my name is Cindy Gilcrease. What's yours?" She asked, holding out her hand in the offering of a handshake, like she'd seen her father do so many times before.

He only stared at the hand, like he didn't know what to do with it, which in truth; she really didn't know either, so she dropped it after a moment.

"Name…" He repeated, softer this time, like he was trying to think too hard on what it meant, or if he had forgotten his own name.

"Do you… Even have a name?" Cindy asked, her almost dropping.

It took a moment, but he finally nodded his head, after what looked like some serious thinking on his part.

"Great! What is it?" She asked again, jumping closer to him, looking up at him with big puppy dog eyes.

He flinched away a step.

"N-n-Niii-ssss… R-ro-ro-roc…Niiiisssssrooc. My name." He finally said, after what felt like several minutes of sounded out the first syllable, but still… It was so guttural; Cindy could barely make out what he said until he explained that all that hissing was his name.

She tried to sound out what he said in her mind, but it was hard. She remembered hearing a "knee" in there… Or something that sounded like it… A long with a "row" sound at the end.

"Ni-Ro? Is that your name? Ni-Ro?" She asked hoping that she got it right.

She could decipher the look he gave her, but he made no move to correct her in any way, that she guessed that she must have been right.

"So your name is Ni-Ro!" She said happily, clasping her hand together grinning.

"It's very nice to meet you Ni-Ro; of course you probably already know my name is Cindy. I just told you!" She said with a giggle stepping closer to him again.

This time he didn't flinch away from her, instead he just cocked his head as if to get a better view of her, like she was the strange creature and he was to be considered everything "normal" in this world.

Then there was the sound of rustling feathers again, and this time, Ni-Ro did flinch. He quickly stepped away from her and looked behind him, like he was looking for something that she couldn't see.

"What? What is it?" Cindy asked, trying to look past him but finding nothing but shadows in the trees.

"Father…" The sound was like a hiss, but even then Cindy could hear sentiment in the word, like he was whispering a prayer.

"Is your daddy calling you?" She asked, trying to imagine more of the creature like Ni-Ro, or even what his father might look like, but could barely even fathom the image.

"Yessssss" He said, but again, it was too much a hiss for her to understand properly, but she got what he was meant for the most part.

"Then you better go to him if your daddy is calling you. You always have to obey your parents." Cindy said, listing the rule that she was told and raised with, practically since she could comprehend speech earlier before in her short life.

He just stared at her for the strangest minute, like he could barely comprehend that she was telling him that. Like it was the first time anyone ever told him that. Which confused her.

Aren't all kids raised to know for a fact that they should always obey their parents?

"Well go on. You don't want to worry him now do you? Besides we can always meet up again. Right?" She asked that last part with a little more hope than she thought. Was it really a bad thing to see him again? True she didn't know if she could find him again, but she could try couldn't she? And besides, with all this talk of going back home, she realized just how far into the forest she was, and wouldn't be surprised if she went back home to find everyone worrying about where she disappeared off to. But she didn't just want to lose him like this. She needed to know his answer before he left.

He didn't answer her; he just looked at her one finale time and took off: Spreading his wings like he was about to fly, but then, strangely just running towards the shadows again.

She heard the noise of rustling feathers once again.

**Soooooo? Whadya think? Is this a good start off? Please someone give me some feedback… I feel so alone in shipping this couple. Please R&R.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't care if only two people are reading this so far… I freaking love this ship too much to just give up on it. Enjoy this newest chappie!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to House of Night… I just added names and backstory.**

'_A raven is known for its large body, black feathers, and distinct croaking squawk._' Cindy read in her mind the only words of the big book she could at the very least, understand.

It had been nearly a week since she last seen Ni-Ro, and she hasn't been able to stop thinking about him since. She tried to tell her family about him when she came back from her exploring from the forest, but they didn't listen to her. Her mother couldn't get past the fact that she went exploring alone and refused to hear anything afterward. She thought maybe her daddy might be the one to talk to than, but, like always, he was too busy with business to 's sister's were even worse, seeing as how Charlotte was still in her own little cloud of post-proposal bliss and Tabitha was riding the cloud along with her.

This left Cindy alone with her baby brothers, who could barely understand her words as it was to be the only ears she could talk to. She figured at least they were people who she could talk to… But even though she said everything she could about Ni-Ro and then some, three times over, it still wasn't enough.

She tried to talk to her nanny, Sally, about Ni-Ro, but then again, Sally always did have a strange fear of black coated animals that no one quite understood. And since Cindy remembered, that although the skin of his arms and legs was something more of a deep sand-ish color, his feather were still pretty black.

And of course, the more she thought about the feathers and wings and the beak on him that made him sooo bird-like, the more Cindy had to wonder what kind of bird he was.

Eventually Cindy was able to manage to find a giant book about bird facts in the family library, a room Cindy hardly ever saw anyone other than her father and his business partners attend in.

She was laying down in the middle of the library right now, skimming through page after page with sketched illustrations of plenty of very pretty looking birds and a long list of boring facts to the side. There were some birds Cindy saw were really pretty looking, but had too many patterns on them to be the right bird Ni-Ro was. Then there were the bird that looked powerful and was actually called dangerous in the list of facts next to the illustrations, but Cindy knew that these weren't the birds either. Mostly because they were described with lighter coloring and the beak was too off.

Then she found the black birds.

But from the information she forced herself to read from in the subtext, the only ones she could really narrow down were two birds: The raven and the crow.

She almost thought it was the crow after she read a bit about it, but was still pretty iffy if that was really what he was. Especially since she found the raven right afterward and now thought that these ravens sounded a lot closer to what she saw in Ni-Ro than the crows.

'_So he's part raven? How does that work out? Is it a birth defect or something? Is his mommy or daddy a raven?_'Cindy thought to herself, wishing that she knew were babies came from, so that it would be easier to figure this out.

Cindy just went back to staring at the picture of the raven. It looked so dark and scary looking that Cindy was almost beginning to understand Sally's fear of black animals. The feathers look unruly, and the beak was open in what was supposed to be a diagram of the inside of the creature's mouth. And to Cindy, its eyes look like nothing more than big black dots.

It made her think about Ni-Ro again, and the difference between the two creatures. This raven looked beastly and untamly… Ni-Ro on the other hand… She could still remember those trapping red eyes. They sure didn't look like giant red dots in _his_ head. They looked like a regular boy's eyes, except they were pretty, distinguishably red. And the more she looked at the picture the more she tried to envision it with human arms and legs, but she failed at that, only ever able to manage getting another vision of Ni-Ro.

She let out a sigh right at the moment she heard a shriek.

"Miss Cindy, what on earth are you reading child?" Sally cried out from behind her, and before she knew it the bird book was closed and snatched up right in front of her before Cindy could come up with a valid response.

"Sally!" Cindy cried out, even though it was already too late and the nanny had placed the book on a high shelf where Cindy couldn't reach.

"Don't go staring at those kinds of dark creatures, young miss. They mean nothing but trouble for anyone and everyone." Sally said sternly, though her eyes still held a glint of worry in them.

"But I…" Cindy started but was interrupted.

"Do you even know what you were reading about?" Sally asked her, though it almost sounded like she wasn't looking for an answer from Cindy.

"Ravens?" Cindy offered anyway, wondering momentarily if Sally really _did_ know what Ni-Ro was.

"Ravens?! Oh my child, that's even worse than I thought!" Sally said, kneeling down and somewhat petting Cindy's well brushed hair like Cindy did something terrible but was being forgiven for her action because she didn't know any better.

"What?" Cindy asked earnestly, what was so bad about ravens? The book didn't say that they were all that bad.

"Ravens are the worst symbol of all evil. They are said to be the markers of death and the taunters of the grieving. And where ever the is a raven, especially a swarm of them, death is sure to be on his way." Sally said grimly, gripping Cindy's shoulders, but not in a painful way.

"Sally that is quite enough!" Cindy's mother's voice carried out into the library. Sally let go of Cindy immediately.

"My apologizes my lady, but Cindy here was reading about ravens. It's bad luck to read about such vile creatures." Sally explained, bowing down her head respectively to the lady of the house.

"While I don't like the idea of a young lady reading in general, I don't think it's your place to tell my youngest daughter, who's only 6 years old might I remind you, why you're afraid of vile black bird. Especially in the matters as controversial as death." Cindy's mother, Tiffany said.

Sally didn't say anything, she just bowed her head again and left the room, leaving Cindy alone with her mother.

"I'm so sorry you had to hear all that, sweetie." Tiffany said sweetly, kneeling down to reassuringly pat her daughter on the head. "What Sally said to you was something that you shouldn't have to worry about, or even think about at your young age. But what on earth were you doing in the library in the first place? And why were you reading about bird anyway of all things?" Her mother asked.

"Oh I was simply curious mother, I saw something truly incredible that had so many properties of a bird, but then again wasn't. I'm in no position to discover what it is as a whole since I doubt anyone has ever seen something like this before, but I thought maybe if I learn more about the bird parts it'll be easier to figure out." Cindy explained as best as she could, though in the back of her mind she wondered why she was calling Ni-Ro an "it" rather than a "him".

Her mother simply chuckled at this.

"That imagination of yours really does run wild doesn't it?" She asked, and again it almost sounded to Cindy that her mother wasn't really fishing for an answer. Then she stood up and walked out of the room, smiling down at Cindy.

"Don't spend too much time in here Cindy. It's not lady like for a young woman to waste her days with her nose in books." She said finally before departing out into the hallway. Leaving Cindy very confused.

Being only 6 she knew next to nothing about death, but she did understand evil through Sunday school.

She knew that her mother said not to dwell on it, but Cindy couldn't help it. If Ni-Ro really was part raven did that make him evil? Or was her mother right and Sally was just being too paranoid simply because there was a creature whose coat was black? Cindy didn't want to think of Ni-Ro as evil, especially since that would mean his daddy might be evil too if he was the raven or because he fell in love with a raven. But Cindy only met Ni-Ro once, and it wasn't what one would call a great first-impression.

Still…

Cindy looked up at the shelf where the bird book was.

'_He can't be evil. He just can't be._' Cindy thought to herself, before she made a hasty run upstairs to her room.

Screams, cries, yells, and beggings for mercy; Ripped flesh and blood splattering on the ground beneath the feet.

These were the sounds Nisroc was constantly surrounded with, and with 12 years since his birth, being surrounded by it, he had grown just beyond used to it. In fact he now reveled in it, and had sometimes grown to balm any and all stirrings he would always feel growing about inside of him. And just like his brothers, he grew accustomed to the killings just as easily. Weather it would be through his hand any one of his brothers, or his father's.

He was even used to the look of fear and the trembling and tears forming on his victims face before his beak would slash open their throats at his father's command.

Any why shouldn't he be? He was a creature meant to cause fear with just the sight of his beastly body. It was a fact he had learned early and had accepted even when he was still considered a youngling. Well, he was still a youngling in comparison to his older brother, and especially his father. But still…

Nisroc still remembered the girl, it had been a week since he found her, but he still remembered her. How could he not remember a girl like her?

She was different from any other mortal human he's seen before. Her dress was more brightly colored, and looked like it was made of much more flimsy material. She even looked paler than the other humans he's seen and slaughtered; even her hair was pale! But it wasn't just how she looked different from the other human's Nisroc had made contact with; it was how she behaved that truly couldn't escape his mind.

There was hardly any fear in her when she first saw him, and he was about ready to add her to the long list of death under his hand. But even then, he could see that though she was scared, she wasn't completely scared. In fact there was less fear in that one child than any of the bravest Cherokee warriors he had ever faced before. It baffled him to say the least.

Of course he didn't dare tell his brothers or his father about the little girl, because he feared what their reaction would be if they learned that he hadn't killed her, but instead _talked_ to her… Or at least did the best he could to talk to her.

Nisroc really didn't need to speak that much, though that didn't mean he didn't try to from time to time. But speaking was so uncommon for him that forming words didn't feel right for him, especially with his beak in the way. His older brother however, Nisroc didn't know how, but he knew that his elder brother had perfected the art of speaking. Nisroc could have cared less about it though, considering that since his brother was the eldest, he was destined to be second in command to father, of course he would have to learn to speak easier. Any lesser being would have been jealous at the thought, but to Nisroc it was actually a relief to just take orders.

So then why did he feel that he had to speak with her then? Why did he feel that he had to try voicing out his words to a lesser being such as her?

Was it because she was the only human to try to talk calmly with him? No, others have tried that, but mostly to fool him into a false sense of security in the hopes that he would lower his guard. It was a feeble trick that never worked out for the deceiver. Besides, she was nothing more than a small human, female child, and was without a doubt unarmed and unguarded. Obviously she would pose no threat to him, or anybody.

Was it because his own curiosity at her lack of fear, even when he held her pinned to the ground, her life hanging by just the slice of his beak? It would make the most amount of sense; however he never really thought he had curiosity to begin with. But then again did he really have a need for curiosity in the first place? He figured he had humans already figured out and needed no new information…. And then this strange little girl shows up and throws everything Nisroc ever knew out the window.

And what was worse was that he actually told her his name! Though thankfully the girl seemed to think that his name was something else. Even though he wasn't exactly sure how she managed to only hear "Niro" or whatever she called him: He didn't care just as long as she didn't know his real name. But then she had to go and tell him _her _name…

'_Cindy._' It was a simple name, easy enough to forget, and yet he still remembered it. Why did he still remember it?

Nisroc hissed to himself and shifted his position in the tree where he was nesting. Why was he even allowing his thoughts to be consumed by the strangeness of one, simple, mortal girl?

But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he didn't have an answer outside of trying to figure out why the girl behaved as she did. Especially with her last words to him before he had to flee back to his father…

She actually encouraged him to obey his father. Normally Nisroc didn't even need to think before obeying his father, it was just a common rule for him to do so… But so far any and all humans would do their best to try to convince him that father's way wasn't the right way. To try to open his eyes to the Darkness that Nisroc already knew had encircled his father.

But not her, not Cindy… No instead she actually encouraged him to go with father, to obey his commands.

'_She is a nothing more than a mere child, she knows not any better._' A strange part of his mind told him. He didn't know where the thought had come from, but it did start to make the whole situation make sense. She obviously had no idea what Nisroc was, and she obviously had no way to even fathom who his father was, so of course she would've responded like that.

'_But it still doesn't explain her lack of fear._' The strange part of his mind reminded him, though he mentally shook it off, thinking that it didn't matter so much anymore.

The girl was nothing more than a one-time fluke. He highly doubted that he would ever see this strange little girl ever again.

Deciding that, that last statement was as finale as it would ever be, he forced all of his thoughts away from Cindy, and strangely, his mind went blank, allowing him to bask in the warmth of the sun a steal a moments rest in the tree for a while.

But not before one finale thought had it say in the matter.

'_And either way this Cindy child is just that, a child. It's not as if she will ever truly mean anything, right?_' The thought was so fleeting, Nisroc wouldn't have even guessed that he thought it himself.

But of course, even if he had it was the truth of course… Right?

Right?

**Yeah, I think this one is mostly padding for future chapters… Next chapter will have them reunited. Which I am soooo excited for! Also little warning… I'm planning on making this story to be set in the span of 6 years… So Cindy starts out as 6 years old now, and incredibly young and childish at first, but she will mature a little as she nears her death… Boy that sounded grim… Oh well we all know what's gonna happen to her in the end anyway. And yes I am implying that Nisroc is 12 years old here… It doesn't really specify how old Raven Mockers really are in the book series, or how old they were when they turned to spirits when Kalona got imprisoned. And I highly doubt that for a hundred years or so the Cherokee's put up with that bullshit. So I made it somewhat believable that maybe the Raven Mockers were around for perhaps a little over a decade or two… I mean the gap between them being born to becoming spirits can't be that big can it? Anyway… Not much else to say, but R&R and hoped you guys enjoyed!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay it took me forever to decide on just how the beginning scene should go… Still not satisfied with it, but what are ya gonna do? Enjoy!**

**Discliamer: I own not, House of Night or its characters… I just added names, is all.**

"Ni-Ro!" Cindy called out, taking careful steps into the forest, being sure that should wouldn't forget where she was heading and get lost.

"Ni-Ro!" She called out again, except louder this time, cupping her free hand around her mouth. She didn't know what it would accomplish, all she knew was that she always saw the grownups yell like that when looking for someone or something.

She dropped her hand awkwardly, an uneasy frown spreading on her face; though it didn't stop her from turning her head in every direction searching. If memory served Cindy right, this was the exact place she meet Ni-Ro, so it only served logically that she would find him again here right? And this was the place she meet him right?

Cindy looked around again, taking in the sights, and confirmed her tiny worry a bit. Yes this was the place alright. She remembered the dark looking trees that could house shadow creatures, or black things like Ni-Ro. But that was the problem, he wasn't in those trees today, he didn't even seem to be anywhere near this part of the forest. The thought alone made Cindy's little heart sink.

"Ni-Ro! Please come out! It's me Cindy, remember?!" She called out yet again, hoping that maybe she was wrong and he _was_ nearby, she just needed to grab his attention.

"I have some really exciting news!" She went on to announce to the empty woods, hoping beyond hope that he was on his way and listening to her so he wouldn't go away if she just stopped talking. "And I really wanted to share it with you! So please come out Ni-Ro, you were the first person I wanted to tell this to once it happened!"

This was actually true. Though it had only been at least two and a half weeks since she saw him, Cindy had still been trying to find him again with no success. And then she just received the good news last night and her first thought was the immediately find Ni-Ro to tell him, unfortunately it was already dark by that time so she had to wait for the morning to try to sneak out during break time when no one in the entire mansion she called home would notice her absence and she could explore around in the forest as much as her heart's content.

"Ni-Ro! Ni-Ro! Come on out Ni-Ro!" She kept on calling, hoping that she would get lucky this time around.

She was so focused on her calling out that she didn't even notice the giant black form hiding out at the very top of the trees peering his glowing red eyes down at where her current position was at.

Nisroc couldn't believe his own eyes, or even his own ears for that matter.

Here it had been more than a fortnight or so, without even so much as a second thought of the mortal girl, and yet here she was, wandering through the woods as if she had no fear for her own well being searching… For _HIM_. Of all things, she was looking for him. Why was she searching for him?

Nisroc had only been flying around the perimeter, trying to fight off his boredom, when he was sure he heard a faint noise. His instincts alone told him to investigate in case it turned out to be an enemy devising an attack on him, his brother and his father. But after a moment, he stopped hearing the strange noise. Instead he heard a familiar female's voice calling out a certain name.

"_Ni-Ro!_"

Nisroc almost stopped himself right there, though he couldn't say why. All he was sure of was that he knew that voice from somewhere and he had heard that particular name from somewhere as well. But his memory had failed him beyond that.

Hesitantly he followed the noise further keeping high to the tops of the trees, being sure that he made no sound so as not to alert whoever was calling out.

And what did he find?

The mortal girl from all those days ago, Cindy, calling out looking for someone. It took him a moment to realize that that someone was him the moment he recognized the name she was calling out.

For a moment, Nisroc could barely move, he was too stunned by all that was being presented to him right now.

Finally, without thinking, Nisroc soundlessly landed down to the ground for a better look at this most peculiar girl. Her back was to him, so she took no notice to his appearance, and Nisroc didn't need to tell himself that that was a good thing.

"Ni-Ro! Where are you?" She called out yet again.

She even seemed unsure of how she should call out for his presence. There was no doubt within Nisroc's mind: This was the most confusing human that he had ever encountered.

"Ni-Ro? Ni-Ro?" Her calls started turning into more of question than exclamations he realized, he also realized that he shouldn't even be here, he had told himself that he would not let himself get distracted by her again. And this was what he was doing just now! True he was still relatively young himself, but still he thought he knew better, and this was expected behavior from one of his younger brothers, the ones that Nisroc knew couldn't even speak: Not himself.

Even Nisroc eldest brother knew better than this, had a lot more self control in him than to allow himself to get distracted by a mere girl.

Then again, Rephiam was a lot more trusted for more stealth than killing, though Nisroc saw his fair share of his brother's merciless behavior. But even so, Nisroc knew that while Rephiam would only hesitate to be sure that he knew his victims weak points ensuring the death sure to come would be quick and swift, he was practically gawking a silly young girl! Even Nisroc could see the shame in that fact, as he was, yet again, reminded of why Rephiam was second in command and Nisroc wasn't.

"Ni-Ro? Ni-Ro!"

Nisroc hadn't realized that Cindy had spotted him until it was too late and she was rushing over to him. He tried to unfurl his wings as quick as he could, instantly taking in a defensive position as if she were charging for an attack. In fact he was almost tempted to take his beak and slice open her throat the closer she got.

But as quick as a breath, leaving Nisroc absolutely no time to think about the kind of attack to calculate against her, he felt her small body press up against his, holding him in a squeezing embrace.

He nearly dropped the bottom of his beak he was so shocked, he was prepared for any kind of attack imaginable, but not this, this… What was this? What on earth was she doing to him?

He lifted his arms and lowered his head to get a better view at the little yellow haired _thing_ attaching herself to his waist. Flailing his arms, he almost stumbled backward, and if it could show through the feathers on his face, the bright red blush of his utter embarrassment at this humiliating position could be seen.

She started rubbing her cheek against him, and it was at that point that he started hissing in shock, disgust and annoyance.

"Ni-Ro! I missed you so much!" She cried out as she rubbed her face against him. He just hissed at her again, trying to catch himself but falling backwards in the process, bring her with him, much to his annoyance.

She just started laughing.

"Sorry. Did I surprise you? Did I?" She asked very brightly, climbing herself so that while Nisroc was on his back, a fact he would forever hide from _anyone_, she was at eye level with him. So he got a perfectly clear view of her own crystal green eyes which seemed to have their own smiles in them which just made her own little stupid smile on her face pointless.

"Get off me!" Nisroc hissed at her, using as much venom as he could, not at all pleased that she was able to manage to keep him on his back, in every way possible.

"Oh, sorry." She said quickly, scrambling to get off his body. The moment she was off of him, he leapt right back off, refusing to let the image of him on his back to be a tangible thing any further than it should be. He then finally used his still spread wings to lift him to the nearest branch of the nearest tree to him.

She just stared at him the entire time. Cindy had never before had seen something like what she just seen before. He was so swift and graceful, even though he was just getting up after falling, Cindy help but feel a bit envious. And he perched himself in a branch like a real bird, which only peeked her curiosity about him even further. Just what was he?

"You sssssstare at me, why do you do it?" He asked her, though she hadn't realized that she was staring until he spoke.

She looked away quickly, automatically reacting as if her mother caught her staring at a person or into empty space. Her mother repeatedly taught her time and time again that it was rude and unladylike to stare and would often scold her if she was caught in the act. So it had become habit to look away as quickly as possible every time someone else caught her staring.

"Oh I… I was…" She stumbled over her words, trying to excuse herself from her rudeness but could find the right words.

"I just couldn't help myself. I apologize." She said instead, bowing her head in shame.

She heard him grunt/hiss from the tree, and she had to take that as an acceptance of her apology.

"I missed you Ni-Ro. Where were you? I was looking for you for a while now." She asked, daring to raise her head to meet him again.

His focus seemed to be held by a random corner of the forest floor for a moment, but it looked to Cindy that her question brought his attention back to her once again. But it was only for a brief moment before he turned his face away from her again.

"Looking for me, why were you?" He asked her, though his voice still sounded beastly to her, she had a hard time even deciphering what emotion she heard behind it. She was sure she heard something within his voice, but she decided it was best not to waste time in thinking about it too long.

"Because I wanted to see you again." She answered honestly, allowing herself the brief thought of why he wanted to know.

He looked back at her, looking like he was studying her again, but then again, it seemed to Cindy that he only really had two looks to him; A look of observation and a look of something bordering anger or worse. For a moment though Cindy could've sworn that it looked like there was something he wanted to tell her or something, but decided against it.

Then Cindy remembered her own news.

"Oh I almost forgot. I have some news Ni-Ro." She said excitedly, standing her tip-toes looking up at his spot, as if she could try to reach him. When he didn't reply back to her she continued, pulling out the piece of paper she was given by her parents last evening.

"Look!" She said, holding it up to him like an offering.

He finally decided to move from the tree, and landed down to her level, in a matter of speaking seeing as how he was still really bigger than her. Though he still seemed hesitant to approach her.

Nisroc carefully peered at the piece of parchment that "Cindy" held before him. It looked like some kind of scrawl was drawn all over it in symbols Nisroc had never seen before. What was the purpose of her showing him this? However he noted that she did seem to hold some kind of pride in these unfamiliar symbols, though as to why he couldn't name.

"What's wrong? Don't you understand it?" she asked him, lowing the piece of parchment. Nisroc didn't feel the need to speak for himself, and simply just hissed and shook his head in a stubborn manner.

"Can't you read?" She asked him this time.

So that's what it was, she had presented him with writings, well pity for her, Nisroc couldn't read. He didn't really feel the need to learn a pointless lesson such as that, besides what possible purpose could it serve him anyway.

He shook his head again.

"Oh." She said softly, dropping the piece down to cover the front her dress like she felt ashamed for asking him the question in the first place. She also turned her head away, looking embarrassed as well, and Nisroc had to tell himself to stop staring when he realized he was staring too intently at her reddening cheeks.

And just like that she left her past troubles and went back to the annoying perky girl he had tried to avoid.

"Oh well, I'll just tell you what it is. See it says that I'm going to this really neat school for gifted children. My daddy is really rich and said that he managed to convince the head teacher there that he could afford me going, and my mommy convinced them that I really am talented for them to have me. I'm really excited to go! And I really wanted to tell you once I heard about it." She said in one long rush, though she didn't say it quickly enough for her words to be too un-comprehendible. However still, the only thing he understood from her littler excerpt was the fact that her parents had provided her with education somehow. Which made him ask the question, what made her think that he even cared if she was taught in whatever method? Or whether or not her parents were responsible for it?

Cindy was babbling non-stop about her so-called excitement for her future teachings, while Nisroc was both trying to cancel out her talking, and trying to figure out just how this strange little girl functioned, when he felt it.

He could feel the shadows within the shadows encircle his body, clinging for him, dragging him back towards the shadows and he was so tempted to follow. But amongst the pulling feeling the Darkness stirred within him, he could also hear their twisted message within them.

_My sons, come to me… Kalona calls for you…_

'_Father is calling me._' Nisroc thought automatically, letting the Darkness calling out for him invade his every thought, willing him to obey the call. He turned his head in the direction the shadows came from, trying to track down where they came from, when a high-pitched voice snapped him out of his focus.

"Ni-Ro?" He heard her call out, but instead of sounding annoyed for not paying attention to her, Nisroc was almost surprised to hear concern in her voice, especially since it was directed at him. He couldn't help but snap his head back in her direction to see her little face look up at him with the same concern lining her voice covering her face.

"Yesssssss?" He hissed out, the Darkness still infecting him from the inside.

"It's your daddy again isn't it? He's calling you to come back isn't he?" She asked, and Nisroc couldn't help but wonder why she sounded just a least bit sad.

"Yessssss." He hissed out his answer yet again.

"Then you should go back to him… But Ni-Ro?" She said before he could even unfurl his wings.

"Wh-" He started to speak, that is until she rushed him again, and she embraced him from behind.

"Cindy!" He exclaimed, hissing her name as he did so. "What are you…"

"Promise me we can meet each other again okay?" She said softly.

Nisroc couldn't describe what feelings he felt within him when she said that, but it was enough to seize his struggles for a moment… But only for a moment, before he flexed his wings, forcing her to remove herself from him. He braced himself for the flight back, when she stopped him again.

"Promise me." She said pleadingly.

Nisroc allowed himself one more look at her, and decided that there could be no harm in letting her hear the words she wanted to hear. Even if he couldn't keep it, and she was a fool for wanting them.

"I promisssssse." He said, glad for the hiss in his voice, though he still couldn't see a smidge of fear in her.

"I'll hold you to it." She said instead, smiling.

Nisroc barely heard her, he lifted his wings and forced himself to fly as far away from her as fast as possible, hoping he wouldn't have to make an excuse for his absence for so long.

Cindy however just stared after him while he flew away into the think forest. And it wasn't until after he was completely gone from her view that she decided that she needed to do the same thing to and head back home. So gathering her bearings she started sprinting out of the woods, hoping that she still remembered her way back out.

She didn't even realize the fact that during her hug Ni-Ro held a dark scent that she had been completely oblivious too… She also didn't notice that that same dark scent had lingered in her own pores.

**I just realized that I had never mentioned the Raven Mockers scent in the FanFic yet! I feel ashamed for not doing so! Oh well…. More to come up next! And this time it won't be just more scenes with these two to keep the fanfic cemented with the idea for these two… There is a plot within it thank you very much! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, please R&R. Bye for now… PEACE!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Alrighty then… No more Head fanon fluff… Time for shit! That's right this thing has a plot! And I will get to it! Well enough of that rant on to the storiez! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I only added names to this tale… Anything remotely connected to the HoN franchise is not mine.**

"Charles! Congratulations on your daughter's betrothal. I just so recently heard the news myself." Charles Gilcrease knew without a doubt who the voice belonged to, but still couldn't help feel his flesh crawl when he saw the man whom it belonged to.

"Jonathon, I'm surprised you're here to congratulate me. Last time one of my daughter's got engaged you and your family were the last to hear but the first to go around spreading 5 different false rumors." Charles said, glaring and the slick, oily man named Jonathon who had just entered his private office over at his work place.

Jonathon was Charles least favorite person in the entire community; the two were destined set rivals from the very beginning. And though Jonathon made his business through one of the local booming acres of wheat, he was a very wealthy man himself; and though Charles own business was that of the printing press, the two would always head butt whenever they were near. Though it seemed to Charles that half the time he was the only one to remember that little fact, until he realizes just how sly Jonathon's antics really are.

He was a tale slender man, always dressed in a dark green or brown suit whenever strolling through the town, so as to keep up appearances. Even though everyone knew that the man would go back to wearing his farm wear whenever he would get back to his harder work of his business. His skin was as tan as oil, and just as slick, much like his jet back hair that was usually slicked back against his skull which he usually covered up with a hat, which he presently had taken off.

"Oh let bygones be bygones, Charles. We cleared those nasty rumors up." He said, slinking over to a seat before he even had the chance to ask for one, or before Charles even offered one to him. Not that he would; he would rather have the deviant out of his business as soon as possible.

"After we forced you to 8 times, AND sent you to court! Even after my family had to show physical and legitimist proof that those terrible rumors about my eldest daughter were false!" Charles said, practically screaming at him by this point, still seething at the thought of learning about those awful rumors of his darling Tabitha, and her tears and fears weeks before her official wedding day.

"What can I say? The tongue is a slippery thing." He said so smoothly it almost had Charles seeing red.

"What is it you wanted Jonathon? To warn me of your latest plot to ruin my family's reputation?" Charles said, storming around him, getting back to his desk to at least play along with his little ploy to make this seem like a normal business meeting.

"Far from it Charles. Though I doubt you'd believe me, and quite frankly I can't blame you, but I'm actually here to make amends." Jonathon said, nearly sending Charles into shock.

"What?!" He exclaimed standing strait out of his chair, slamming his hands on his desk.

"You heard me Charles. This little squabble is getting rather bothersome. Hell I've even forgotten why this whole messy business even started. And after the whole affair with those rumors and your daughter… I couldn't help but think to myself, 'Have I really sunk so low as to this?' And after talking it over with the family, we've all agreed that we've all done you and your family wrong for far too long. So I'm here to make amends." He said, standing up himself now, reaching his hand out towards Charles in a polite gesture.

Charles just glared at it.

"And just how do you plan to make amends? By a simple hand shake? After all the damage you caused us you feel that'll rectify it all?" Charles spat at him, slapping his hand away from him.

"Figured you'd react this way." Jonathon said in a low growl himself, retrieving his hand back.

"No, Charles. I planned something a little more worth something a bit more than just an apology and a hand shake…"

"Not much of an apology if you ask me." Charles spat out again, interrupting him.

"Either way…" Jonathon spat back at him with just as much malice. "No what I thought was something a bit more... solidifying." He explained.

"What do you mean?" Charles asked in spite of himself, curious for the same reason.

"A marriage." Was all he said, and that was it for it for Charles.

"Get out! Get out of my office Jonathon." Charles shouted at him pointing furiously towards the exit.

But he refused to move.

"No Charles I know this idea may seem preposterous to you now, but if you would take the time to consider…"

"Consider what? And by the way Jonathon, both of my eldest daughter's hands are already taken. So how would your little marriage plan to cover your damage work?" Charles asked him, daring him to answer, temporarily forgetting the one flaw in his own plan.

"Don't take me for a fool Charles. I know you have a third daughter, what's her name again? Cindy, isn't it?" He asked him, though it felt more like a rhetorical question to Charles… Either way it stopped him short for a moment.

"And what about Cindy?" He asked, meaning for it to be more of a bark, but instead he sounded as stupefied as he felt.

"I propose this: Your Cindy could marry my son Jacob. When the time comes ready of course and your second daughter's marriage is well past and gone for expenses of course." Jonathon explained to him, and this was where Charles finally had enough of his slimy company.

"Then I reject your proposal!" He shouted at him, finally gaining back his reserve.

"Now Charles, let's think about this rationally for a moment…"

"You may have heard of my youngest daughter, but what you may have overlooked in your little research is that she's only a child! She's only 6 years if age! You're daft if you believe that I would marry her off to any son of yours at that age!" Charles said, rounding on him, tempted to punch his smug face into his own head.

"So is my son Jacob. It would be more of an arranged marriage than anything. They don't have to marry now. Give them a few years to grow up themselves, to be ready for marriage, and to give you and your own family enough time to at least consider the proposal I'm offering you." Jonathon said, slipping his hat back on his head taking his leave from his seat.

"Just think about it Charles. Oh and give my congratulations to your daughter and future son-in-law." He said before slinking out the door, closing it with a loud, but not harsh, slam.

What did make a loud and harsh slam however was Charles throwing the heaviest things he could find on his desk at the door, regretting that the man the stood there moments before had already left.

Charles was beyond anger by this point.

How dare that snake of a man offer him such an enraging offer. How dare he think that he could sweep up all the crimes he committed against his family with that insulting proposal.

Charles swore that as long as he lived and breathed, he would never allow his little Cindy to ever marry any son of Jonathon's, no matter how old she would grow.

"Cindy!" Charlotte called out in the big mansion she called home, only to hear her words echo back to her.

"Cindy, where are you?" She asked out loud again, sounding more like she and her little sister were playing a game of hide-and-seek. The only problem was that Cindy was winning.

"Charlotte?" She heard the unmistakable voice come from behind her, startling her a bit.

"Mother? My goodness did you startle me." She said calmly, trying to regain her breath without looking to obvious, hand on her chest in a lady-like fashion.

"My apologies then. But Charlotte, sweetie, what are you doing? I would think that you and Tabitha would be out and about planning for your wedding day." Her mother asked her softly, never bringing up why she was looking for her younger sister.

"Oh, well you see mother," Charlotte started, hoping that she could find the right words to form in just the right way. "Tabitha has come down with a headache, so she's resting at the moment with Fredric at her bedside. As for me mother, well it's just that…" She stalled here when she saw her mother raise her brows when she mentioned her elder sister.

"It seems to me that your sister wishes to spend more a day with her husband than planning your big day." She said, sounding a lot more disappointed than she did reproachful.

"Well she has been spending a lot of her time with me and this wedding. She barely has time to _see_ Fredrik let alone anyone else. And the same thing with me mother. I say let her have the day off with Fredrik." She said, hoping that she didn't sound challenging.

Her mother just looked at her, and Charlotte was relieved to see understanding in her mother's eyes.

"What a fine point to look at sweetie. All right I'll give her this, but what about you? Do you plan to spend the day with your future husband?" Her mother, slightly, teased at her. And again, Charlotte couldn't help but note how her mother took no notice of her calling out for Cindy.

"Actually, Mother, Henry is busy himself today. I would tag along if it didn't seem so inappropriate." She explained quickly and smoothly.

"A wise choice indeed. I knew I brought up a well behaved lady in you." She said proudly, reaching up to cup her face gently, before letting it go.

"So what do you plan to do this day?" She asked once her hands where to her sides again.

"Actually, I thought that perhaps I could have the day with Cindy today. I feel rather bad that I haven't spent that much time with her for a while. Ever since the proposal and all this wedding planning, I feel as if I've been neglecting her." Charlotte admitted, feeling a bit upset with herself on the matter. "However I can't seem to find her anywhere. And I've searched every room I could think of. Even the library." She admitted, though she didn't want to explain why she checked there when she doubted a 6 year old girl _could_ read any of those dusty old books.

"I see. Well I haven't seen much myself today; the boys have kept me preoccupied otherwise. Have you checked outside? Perhaps she's planning to silly little games of hers." Her mother said, and not a moment afterward, to shrill cries could be heard as well as the pounding of footsteps as Sally was racing towards her mistresses.

"Mrs. Gilcrease, the boys have woken up, and quite violently I might say. I think they may have had a nightmare!" Sally explained.

"I'll go see to them, you go and fetch them something to eat and meet me back in their nursery." She said sternly, but calmly, already making her way over to the nursery.

"Yes ma'am." Sally said while bowing her head, about ready to make her way over to the kitchen before Charlotte paused her for a moment.

"Hold on one moment Sally." Charlotte called out, but not as firm as her mother's command.

"Yes miss?" She asked, looking over to view her other mistress properly.

"I was just wondering if you've seen Cindy anywhere." She asked timidly, but quickly.

"Cindy? Ah yes, I do remember seeing her rush outside this morning, she seemed to be in a rush so I didn't stop her. My guess is she's probably near the fountain or the gazebo." Sally said, hoping that it didn't look like she was fidgeting so she could obey her mother's orders.

"Thank you Sally. That is all." Charlotte said, and then the two parted ways.

Sally rushed towards the kitchen while Charlotte went outside.

She went outside with the exist nearest the fountain, so she wouldn't have to explore the entire yard looking for her, so when she saw that Cindy wasn't anywhere near the fountain, she smiled to herself and figured that she must be at the gazebo.

Charlotte took her time getting there, but mostly because she wasn't in any real rush to get anywhere, she just wanted to spend some time with her sister.

However the closer she came to the gazebo, the more her worry started to rise, considering that she could neither hide nor hair of her little sister. Though she tried to quell the worry by saying that she was probably hiding out somewhere.

"Cindy?" She called out yet again, searching high and low, finding no hiding spot for her to be.

"Cindy?" She called out, hoping she didn't sound panicked.

"Charlotte?" She heard a small high pitched voice ask out from far behind her.

Charlotte turned around, and was relieved to see the familiar sight of her little sister looking up at her with quizzical eyes.

"Oh Cindy, you had me worried for a moment. I've been looking for you everywhere." Charlotte exclaimed, dropping down low to her knees to give her little sister a hug, but paused for a moment to take a good look at her.

"You were?" She asked, and to Charlotte it truly sounded like she was surprised.

"Of course. I felt as if I've been neglecting you, so today it just going to be you and me. Does that sound good to you?" Charlotte didn't need to hear her answer, the bright shine and smile on Cindy's face was enough.

"That sounds wonderful, Sissy!" Cindy said, jumping up to complete the hug Charlotte was prepared to give, however she found herself hugging back instead.

What Charlotte wasn't prepared for was the horrid odor that seemed to come from Cindy's clothes.

Charlotte couldn't place it, but the smell was something dark, and musty, and reminded her of horrid things. In fact, the smell brought back, however brief the memory from when she was younger, before Cindy was even born. She remembered always going on picnics in the summer with the family, though it was smaller in size compared to now. Charlotte also remembered the reason why mother decided to end those picnics as abruptly as she did.

All because, while Charlotte and Tabitha were off goofing around like the young children they were, Charlotte caught a glimpse of something in the woods. Looking back on it, she recalled being just as curious about everything as Cindy was today, except, so far, Cindy never had to lose her sense of wonder and curiosity to the horrors of what Charlotte found.

Because on that day, Charlotte found the freshly rotting corpse of large animal, which she later learned, was a wolf-killed deer. It frightened her to the point of a fit-full of screams and weeks of nightmares. But the one thing that Charlotte loathed most that imprinted itself in her mind the strongest, was the smell. The smell of the rotting flesh and the spilt blood of the poor creature to be half devoured like that, and then there was the horrid stench of foreboding death surrounding the horrid sight, warning every other living creature around it what lay ahead. However, because Charlotte was so young at the time, she didn't listen and never knew any better.

Well now she was older, and a lot wiser, though she doubted she could be all that smarter. She knew better, and she also knew that, that same smell that she ignored all those years ago, was now lingering in her younger, more naive, more curious sister's clothes. Only this time it seemed to be even more stronger than ever, and a whole lot darker.

"Uhm, Cindy," Charlotte started, backing away from her younger sister's embrace, trying not to look too disgusted at the stench.

"Yes, Sissy?" Cindy giggled at her little nick-name her, which made Charlotte relax just a tad bit with a smile, before she continued with her question.

"Just what were you playing, before I came to fetch you?" Charlotte asked slowly, being sure that she worded it just right so as not to come across as offensive to her dear little sister.

"Huh? Oh I wasn't really playing. I was actually talking to my new friend." She said with a bright smile.

"A new friend? Here?" Charlotte asked, shocked that her little sister had guest over that no one knew about.

"Well not anymore. He had to go back to his daddy… But he promised to come back to play with me again." Cindy explained, looking sort of… Sad the first part of her explanation, but then having her face light up near the end.

"_He_?!" Charlotte practically exclaimed, she didn't even think Cindy _liked_ boys at this age.

"Uh-huh. And he's soooo wonderful! He's so majestic, and incredible! He moves with such ease, even with those big wings of his!" Cindy explained, using big gestures trying to explain this new friend of hers.

"Wings?" Now Charlotte was thoroughly confused.

"Of course. He's part bird! Well Raven actually… He has great big wings on his back! A feathered body, and a beak, and these hypnotic red eyes, and…" As Cindy rattled on and on about this creature who was apparently her friend(whose name was apparently "Ni-Ro") it finally clicked into place in Charlotte's mind, and she finally understood.

Cindy had come up with an imaginary friend.

The thought eased up Charlotte's nerves greatly, and she allowed herself to smile with a lot more ease, and even chuckled at her sister's silliness; her past worries all but forgotten.

"He sounds like a real treat for the eyes to see." She said calmly, seeing no harm in fueling her sister's imagination.

"He sure is!" Cindy said, snapping out of her babbling to answer her sister properly.

"How about we head into town and you can tell me all about him on the way. Just you and me. Doesn't that sound like fun?" She said, standing back up, offering her hand for Cindy to hold onto.

Cindy took her hand immediately, and together they headed off for town, Cindy talking Charlottes ear off the entire time.

But in the back of her mind, she still couldn't shake that horrid dark smell she had smelled earlier from her sister's clothes, even though by the end of the day it eventually wore off.

Charlotte later tried convincing herself that it was probably just her imagination. And that the smell was probably just a shocking contrasts after having to be forced smelling flowers all day long the day prior.

Oh how wrong she was.

**In answer to your questions… No. Nothing sinister will come out of Cindy's sister noting the Raven Mocker stench… Outside of them noticing that something is defiantly up with her. But other than that…. Oh and I bet I know what you're thinking with Jonathon and his little intro to the story… Well your half right. Hehehehe… Oh Gods I'm terrible. And that's it for this chapter. Please stay in touch, and I'll upload this thing soon. I out. Bye! And don't forget to R&R!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Ohhh… FUCK ME THIS TOOK FOREVER TO UPDATE! I know that, and I sincerely apologize! Skool has been hell lately and I've been working a bit harder to keep my grades up. That and I… sorta got real into all of these different kinds of fandoms… A couple more so than the others. But after finding this story on Google after searching for this shipping(no seriously… mine was the only one to come up!) And after re-reading it… I thought… What the hay? I'll get back to this. Hope this chappie's worth the wait.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to House of Night.**

_"Promise me we can meet each other again okay?"_

That one simple statement would not leave Nisroc's mind. No matter what he had tried to expel it. What was worse was the fact that he barely thought of much as it is; he would just obey orders and defend, or attack, when the situation called for it; which was pretty often.

So why then, out of all this time of having a completely clear head, was his mind fogged and muddled with thoughts of Cindy?

Why did that one simple statement stay in his mind, when to him it just meant to make an empty promise to leave?

Any why, oh why, did he feel hollow when he referred to his words to her, an empty promise when that was the truth?

Clutching his head in both of his hands, he groaned as pressure started to build up inside his skull. He wasn't used to these many thoughts all at once, and he rather didn't like it. Nisroc couldn't even take comfort of the world below him as he perched himself at one of the highest point in one of the many secluded trees in the forest. Father had ordered him to lay low unless one of the Cherokee warriors hunted him, or his brothers out.

All of the thoughts of Cindy, and her peculiar behavior, had completely taken a hold of his mind. It was exhausting and almost made Nisroc wish to do nothing but sleep, and yet, whenever he tried to sleep, he could not with these damnable restless thoughts.

He hissed out loud to no creature in particular but himself.

He felt like a complete and utter fool, letting a girl entrap his thoughts like this. Of course what made it worse was by his particular behavior towards this whole mess. What he should've done was kill the girl the moment she spotted him. That was what he was trained to do, that was what should've happened. But he didn't and now he was paying the price.

Nisroc couldn't go to either his father or his elder brother about this current situation. Rephiam would only laugh and mock him for being such a simpleton and a fool. Father would no doubt be angry with him and punish him for not doing his duty in the first place.

Groaning at this annoying predicament Cindy has caused him, he rolled over in the branch, nearly missing the high pitched sound of laughter below.

At first he thought it was Cindy, and already his mind was flooded with very worrisome thoughts for him.

'_Did Cindy track me down to my location somehow? Was she _that_ desperate to come see me again? What if my brothers hear her calling out for me? What if she's attacked?_' The thoughts plagued his mind, but what really threw him off were these strange sensations he felt at each thought.

One of said sensations was an unfamiliar one, something he never felt before, and yet, it didn't feel bad, it almost felt… Energetic. As if the thought of Cindy's visit here would give him enough energy to do almost anything. It also felt, light, like a burden was lifted from him, and it felt very, very pleasant.

What wasn't so pleasant was the sensation he felt right after that with his last thought. It was a sensation he knew all too well: Worry.

He felt worry over her because of the natural assumption that his brothers would no doubt attack her!

Why was he feeling worried for her?

Looking down from his position in the tree, he cursed at himself further. He had that energetic sensation and felt worry for nothing!

The source of the laughter, were nothing more than two Cherokee children who have obviously strayed too far from their mother's protection. One was a young male the other a female, and from what Nisroc could hear they were brother and sister. The boy kept flaunting around proclaiming his eternal protection of his sister, while the girl just laughed at his antics. And viewing what he was, Nisroc couldn't help but agree with her laughter. The mere thought that this under grown youngling could ever challenge he or his brothers was laughable at best.

But even so…

Nisroc didn't want to, he didn't even know where it came from, but he couldn't help but notice the difference in this young Cherokee girl and Cindy, though Nisroc could see that they were the same age.

For one thing, the Cherokee girl had a deep tanned tone shading her skin; where as Cindy's skin was more pale, and pinkish. Her hair was also a bright golden yellow color that contrasted this young girl's dark black hair. Even the eyes were a noticeable difference; though Nisroc didn't want to admit it, he had noticed the keen shine in Cindy's bright, green eyes. In this young Cherokee's eyes, he saw the dark coloration of her eyes, even from this distance, and yet, they looked worried for reasons he could only guess. He should know, he was probably one of those worries. Whereas with Cindy… Her seemed to be bright with something light and infectious, like her smile and laughter hid in her eyes, and completely blocked themselves from anyone else ever daring to take that feeling for their own.

Besides the other notable differences between the two young girls through their appearances; there was also the matter of how they sounded.

This Cherokee girl had a more stern voice for one so young; it was also heavy with her language. Whereas Cindy had a much more light, high, voice, filled with what he could assume was her laughter.

Even they're laugh sounded off.

The Cherokee's laugh felt forced compared to the laughter he had heard from Cindy.

Nisroc was so intent on the contrast between the young girl and Cindy that it was a complete shock to him to suddenly find a woman, possibly the children's mother, running up to them, scolding them with warnings about his father and his brothers. The children's faces where then struck with horror and ran to the woman and away from the scene.

In some ways this was good for Nisroc; fewer annoyances to deal with, and one less excuse to think about Cindy. But in other's it still made him agitated. It meant that he had let easy pry out from his grip yet again, and on purpose no less and it meant that he had one less excuse to think about Cindy now.

Once the Cherokee family was gone, Nisroc groaned in frustration at that last realization.

What was it about that girl that made it so it would refuse to leave his mind?

Was she cursed? Did she hex him?

No, both of the possibilities sounded ludicrous when he remembered just how young she was.

Maybe if he just avoided her, and never saw her again, things would go back to normal. He wouldn't be plagued by the uncontrollable thoughts of her, and she would go about her life and die like any other mortal would.

That's what's best.

That's what's best.

That's what's best…

* * *

"Miss Gilcrese!" The sharp yell called out, snapping Cindy out of her stupor.

"Huh?!" Cindy called out, causing a couple of snickers from her fellow class mates, momentarily causing her to blush. She just looked down at her desk, though this turned to be a mistake as she had to force back yet another blush, as she saw what she had done instead of taking notes.

Her papers were scribbled with blacks smudges of what looked like misshapen birds.

"Miss Cindy…" The teacher groaned at her. "You have been attending this school for nearly two weeks now. And every day of those two weeks I had to snap back your attention from that blasted window. Just what is it that drives your attention so away from the here and now? There is nothing but the empty view of an acre and trees out there." Her teacher scolded at her, pointing her ruler out the window.

Cindy flinched, hiding her arms close to her body. The first few times she's done this she got smacked.

'_It's not the view that steals my attention…_' Cindy thought to herself. '_It's the ever growing wonder if I'll ever see him again; if he'll keep his promise._' The last thought came grimly in her mind. She dared a peer out the window, before looking back at her teacher again.

"I-I apologize Mrs. Heffer. It won't happen again…"

"Just like the last four times you promised that?" She sneered at her, causing the other children to laugh again.

Her heart lurched, and not from the cruel statement or the teasing of the others. For a girl her age, Cindy was actually quite accepting. She hardly ever took anything insult flung her way all that seriously. The closest she ever got to that was whenever she was being scolded for doing something bad, that she knew now to be bad.

She felt the pang because her teacher was basically telling her to keep the promises she'd been making that she has been braking a lot lately. It reminded her how Ni-Ro hadn't quite yet fulfilled _his_ promise to her.

So was that why she was breaking her promises? Because someone she barely even knows is breaking his?

"I-I…" Cindy tried to force words out but couldn't seem to find the right ones.

"Enough of that now; we're moving on to a new subject. Hopefully you'll be able to actually keep your attention for once!" Mrs. Heffer snapped, causing Cindy to hastily shove her smudgy papers away to bring out new ones, in the hope to actually focus her mind for once.

"Good. Now class, today we shall be learning about writing. Though it is a bit early for you all to learn this subject. I feel it's important for you all too at least to know how to write your own name." the teacher started, going on to explain to the rest of the class the importance of learning how to write for themselves. She also started to explain how writing was a lot like the drawings the whole class, Cindy included, were already good at; except that they all had to practice to make them look like words.

Cindy did her best to focus on what was being said by the teacher, refusing to let her mind wonder back to Ni-Ro.

The rest of class was then followed by Mrs. Heffer making every one learn how to write on their own.

Cindy sorta got the technique down. She was told to write the whole alphabet, as Mrs. Heffer had written on the board. Then again, comparing Mrs. Heffer's beautiful hand writings, and Cindy's own scribbles, pretty much dropped all of Cindy's hopes.

"All right class, that's enough for today. We shall continue this lesson tomorrow." The teacher announced, making everybody start to pack up their things.

"And Cindy… When you come in tomorrow, be sure to bring your attention with you." Mrs. Heffer said, taking her seat back behind her desk.

Cindy barely let the words invade her mind, she was too focused on finding a way to cram all of her papers in the book bag her mother had bought her.

"Hey Cindy." A young male voice came from behind her. Cindy turned around, only to see a young boy around her age, with messy black hair smiling at her. She didn't really know this boy all too well, she only ever heard his name, and thanks to her mother, she learned to stick that name with his face.

"Oh, hello Jacob." Cindy said politely, still trying to place her things in her bag.

"You seem preoccupied lately. Is there any reason for it?" He asked her, though this confused Cindy greatly. She barely knows this kid, why is he asking her these questions?

Cindy just shrugged off the question, trying to wrap the book bag strap around her shoulder.

"You sure?" Jacob asked again.

Cindy just nodded. She had enough embarrassment enough for the day; she doesn't need to tell a strange boy about everything!

"Cindy! There you are!" A high shrill voice called out from the other side of the school yard, almost making Cindy wish that she _should_ be better friends with this boy. Then again it gave her an excuse to leave him, and for her to escape his questions…

"I'd better go. My friends are calling me over." She said quickly, leaving the boy behind her.

"What were you doing with that boy over there Cindy?" a different girls voice called out, a voice Cindy recognized immediately as her friend Elizabeth.

"Nothing." She said honestly, barely batting an eyelash.

"Don't you know how that boy is!?" Another girl, Mary, asked her.

"No." She said simply and honestly. While it was true that normally Cindy was quite a friendly and sweet girl by nature, she wasn't as socially knowledgeable as was her older sisters or even her parents.

"His daddy is your daddy's enemy!" the third girl of the group, Anne, explains sharply. All three of these girls only knew Cindy and Cindy only knew them because all of their daddy's worked with her daddy. They were all meant to be friends since the rest of each of their families were friends… But in truth, Cindy didn't like them very much.

Elizabeth was always asking her rude questions, and often times would never stop asking questions until she got a satisfactory answer that she later planned to tease Cindy with.

Mary was very weird to Cindy. Out of all of them, Mary was pretty clingy and had a weird obsession with dolls and drawings. Her daddy was an artist and worked for Cindy's father to make pictures for the paper.

And then Anne always had that sharp tongue of hers; always snapping at Cindy whenever she would ask a question, often making Cindy feel dumb.

Cindy knew that publicly these girls were supposed to be her friends… But she could never bring herself to actually call them that.

"Oh? Then why was he nice to me?" Cindy asked now curious.

Anne just smacked her with a book, making Cindy yelp and fling her arms up to her head, holding back embarrassing tears.

"Because he wants to gain your trust and embarrass your daddy with information he can get outta you!" Anne said sharply, making Cindy hang her head.

Why can't they just be nice to her? Aren't friends supposed to be nice to each other?

"I… I didn't realize…" Cindy said softly, not daring looking any of the girls in front of her in the face. "S-so-sorry… But I had better get going… My mother is probably waiting for me at home." Cindy said in a rush, moving her legs away from the school yard as fast as allowed before she even made the decision to run.

She ran hard and fast through town, not realizing that she was finally crying until she ran into someone.

"Huh..? Oh! I'm so sorry!" Cindy said loudly, feeling a wetness cool her face down from the rush of heat from embarrassment.

She ran into a grown up couple. There was a man who looked almost like a giant and a warrior in the story books her mother read to her; he frightened her quite a bit. Then there was a woman who looked even prettier than her own mother, or at least that's what Cindy though. She had hair that reminded Cindy of silver only brighter and shinier than any lockets or jewelry that she ever saw before.

They both just smiled warmly at her.

"No problem at all young one." The woman said, sounding sweet and wise. Cindy was practically hypnotized by her voice.

"Our fault for standing in the middle of the street. Now, now..." She said soothingly, bringing a handkerchief out and blotting Cindy's wet face, making her realize that she was crying. "No need for tears. You do not appear to be badly injured."

"O-oh… I was…" Cindy hesitated in explaining her true feelings, especially to strangers.

"You should still try and watch your step little one," the man said helpfully, reaching a hand out for Cindy to grab and he pulled her back up. "You're lucky to have run into good strangers, but often times you may not be so lucky." He warned.

Why was everyone telling her to be nice to?!

"Ye-ye-yeah… Thank you." Cindy stuttered, not exactly sure what she was thanking them for, and then she ran off blindly back to her home.

"Hmmm... I wonder what emotions were behind those tears… I don't think that they were from any physical pain." The woman wondered aloud.

"Whatever the human girl's feelings, we have no business to interfere." The man said.

"But still… What if… If that… That… Monster…" the woman said haltingly, recalling the horrid events that happened to them not too long ago.

"That beast is gone. And even then, I'm sure she'll be smart enough to run in the opposite direction should she ever see it." He said, so sure of his words.

"I hope your right." She said worryingly.

"Anastasia," The mad said softly, raising her face towards his.

She smiled, as if he told her words that only she could her spiritually.

"Your right Bryon. I shouldn't worry too much." Anastasia said, as the two made their way back to their House of Night.

**Am I forgivens for posting this? As well as the little cameo in the end? I am SOOOOOO super sorry for not posting this earlier…. Skool has been HELL! Work, work, work, work, work! That and I have gained several new obsessions in these RPG games called "Mad Father" and "Ib" (seriously… Go check it out! They are awesome!) and then I think I went a little insane just recently with my newest obsession with Happy Tree Friends…. I will NOT tell you to check it out… That is unless you have a strong stomach and don't mind some gore.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I swear to gods I will finish this thing if it kills me… DAMN THE LATENESS! UUUUGGGHH! Hopefully this will make up for it all.**

**Disclaimer: Any character REMOTLY belonging to the House of Night franchise belongs to P.C. and Kristen Cast… I just gave the ghost girl a name and a fanon back story…**

"Ni-Ro!" Cindy yelled out into the dark forest from her usual searching spot. She had made it home from school, but she didn't feel like being comforted by Sally, or to have her tears dried by mother or her sisters. She wasn't even in the mood to have her father try and cheer her up by taking her anywhere she wanted to go to play whatever games she wanted.

The moment she arrived home she dropped her bag and saw the edge of her now secret forest and couldn't help herself. She just left her bag on the porch and ran without a second thought.

Her face still felt wet.

"Ni-Ro!" She called out louder this time, hoping with every ounce in her that he would show up this time.

"Please come out this time Ni-Ro! Please!" She cried out, nearly sobbing.

There was only the sound of the wind rustling leaves and twigs mixed with her own sobbing breath.

"Please!" She called out again, hoping he would hear her call.

Again there was no sound to indicate that there was someone else present.

She knew she should just turn around and go home. If she wanted to cry she could just run strait to her room and cry her eyes out if she wanted. That wasn't something she did often, but at the moment, she hardly cared about what she did or not. However, her body did something totally different than from what her mind wanted her to do.

While her mind said to turn around and walk home, her body stood firm, facing the deep dark part of the forest in which she knew that just beneath the darkness Ni-Ro was being housed.

"F-fine!" She said stubbornly.

"I-if you won't come to me…" She said, hesitantly taking that first step. "Then I guess I'm going to have to come to you." She said taking another step towards the Darkness.

"NO!" A strange, yet familiar, animalistic cry was heard.

The next thing Cindy knew, a dark black shape came out from the darkness and entrapped her within his arms. She nearly screamed if not for the sense of overwhelming familiarity within the feel of his body as well as his voice.

Ni-Ro came back.

Nisroc could not believe this!

She actually came back searching for him. She almost came to track him down! This mortal girl really was foolish!

For one reason or another, Nisroc could feel a slight tug to move, and hadn't realized where he was being led to until he heard her desperate cries. Had it been anyone else he would have crossed them off as pitiful, but because they came from her they just somehow… Weren't. Granted he still felt them pitiful, but not for the normal reason he usually did. In fact it was almost like a new feeling all together, like he wanted to take away her pitifulness. He had never felt that way before.

And then when she started threatening to search for him personally, all he could think about was how his brother would slaughter her and how badly he would be mocked and how much pain either option would leave him feeling.

Barely giving it thought, he leapt from his hiding spot in the shadows and enveloped her in his arms; preventing her from coming any nearer then she had to.

He had expected her to scream, to cry out in fear or even pain; he didn't expect her to clutch his body around her small, frail one. Nisroc also didn't expect her to start crying into his feathers as she gripped him with her tiny hands.

Not knowing what else to do he just let her cry, thinking that once she was spent she would want to run away.

"Please don't do this again Ni-Ro…" He heard her say through her tears. And that was it; she was practically begging him to leave her life forever, as well as she should. He was about to let her go, if not for the fact that she just hugged him tighter, her grip on his feathers just as tight.

"Don't leave me alone like that ever again. Please don't make me feel so alone to search for you again." He heard her plead this time.

His eyes widened.

She wanted him… To stay? Why would she want that?

"Want that… Why would you?" He couldn't help but ask, being overwhelmed by shock.

"I want you to be my friend Ni-Ro… You are my friend right?" She told him like it could explain everything. He had never felt more confused.

Friends? What on earth was she asking of him?

"F-fr-friend?" He asked, not used to the word so it came out as a beastly hiss that he never paid any mind to.

"Uh-huh… You're the only person people hadn't already decided I should like or not. And… I… I… Like you." He heard her say and he couldn't believe his own ears at her words.

She called him a person?

She actually likes him?

Everything about her reasons made less sense to him than this whole situation.

"You…. You… Like me?" Nisroc asked, unsure if this whole scene was really real. But either way he couldn't hide the strangest feeling inside of him at the thought. It was that light feeling again, but it seemed clouded with uncertainty.

He wanted to ignore it, but when he did he felt a sense of dread of what were to happen of if she was just playing _him_ for the fool and rejected her feelings for him.

It was a feeling that Nisroc hated beyond every other feeling.

"Ye-yeah… You're interesting. And… And… I just want to be with you!" Cindy exclaimed, hugging him even tighter, though Nisroc didn't feel any discomfort this time. It felt… nice. True it was still weird, and felt a little off to him, but it still felt nice.

Nisroc had no idea what to do, so he just continued holding her like this, trying to figure out why her small embrace felt so… nice.

Not coming up with any answer, Nisroc just sighed in annoyance and, being mindful of the child in his arms, sat down.

What he didn't expect was Cindy to start sobbing again. Why was she weeping now?!

"Why do you cry now?" He asked, though he meant to phrase it in a more annoyed tone, he sounded genuinely curious.

"It's…. It's nothing…" Cindy said, and it was obvious that she was lying. "I'm… Just glad that you're my friend." Cindy said in a more cheery tone.

"You're lying" Nisroc said with a hiss. "There is something that makes you weep." Nisroc said solidly, not even bothering questioning himself on why he knew her second statement wasn't a lie either.

"I…. I…" Cindy started stammering, she was unsure of how she should put into words what she was feeling today. But she didn't want to keep Ni-Ro waiting for his answer.

"I don't like the friends I have, outside of you. They're mean and I know that they don't like me." She finally stated, but once she started she found that she just couldn't stop.

"They're always telling me what to do, and I hate it. I'm only supposed to be friends with them since they're daddy's work for mine." Cindy explained.

"You're father… A powerful man, he is?" It took Cindy a while to discover that he phrased it as a question.

"Yeah. He is. What about your daddy?" She asked him.

Ni-Ro took a while to answer her, which confused her a bit. She knew there was something about him and his daddy, so why was it taking so long for him to answer her about his own daddy?!

"My father… Very powerful, he is… yessssss." He said it in a weird tone. Like whenever Cindy would go to church with her family and the pastor would talk about God. The tone of Ni-Ro in talking about his father reminded her of the pastor, which was weird. Well, at least it was weird to her.

Shifting her position, she still kept a good grip on him, cradling herself up against, both of his arms as well as he feathered chest, really enjoying the softness of his feathers with the contrast of the rough skin on his arm. She was sure that she looked like a baby, but she didn't care at this point; she was comfortable and was starting to feel a bit calm. Like her troubles were long gong behind her.

Nisroc on the other hand was shocked at her actions.

"What are you doing?" He asked in a genually confused tone.

She had started curling herself against his arm and chest, like an infant. It infuriated him. If this young girl thinks that she can just use him like a babe uses their mother, than she had another thing coming.

"I just…" She said in a calm voice that took him by surprise. "I don't know… I just like the feeling of you holding me."

Now Nisroc was really confused, and his confusion did not diminish when she started rubbing her cheek against his chest, giggling as she did so. This made Nisroc stiffen at the foreign content; just what the hell was she trying to accomplish?!

"Hehehe… You're feather's tickle… Hehe… But it feels nice, like a big pillow!" She exclaimed, hugging him tightly again.

This just further aggravated Nisroc.

"Would you…" Nisroc said, but stopped his words when he met her eyes staring up expectantly up at him.

"What?" He asked her in an annoyed voice.

"Can you talk some more? I like the sound of your voice." Cindy said simply, which once again made Nisroc do a double take on her words.

"You want me to do… What?" He asked.

"Talk… I like you're voice… And the way you speak. Hehehe… It's different, and I really like how you talk." Cindy explained to him, but he was still confused.

"Talk about, what should I even?" He asked her starting to get a bit annoyed.

"Anything! You're favorite subject! Family, hobbies, what you do… Stuff like that." She explained more, but it seemed to arise an annoying pattern. She would explain things to him, and just leave him even more confused.

"I doubt you would find any of my topics pleasing." He said simply, hoping that she would just leave it at that. But knowing her, she would try to goad it out of him, and he couldn't allow that to happen. So thinking quickly, he came up with an idea.

"Why don't you start talking about those topics in your own life?" He said, but as soon as those words escaped his mouth, he instantly regretted it, knowing what was to come.

"You really want to know?" She asked, but he refused to answer. Though in the end run it didn't really matter since it seemed she took his silence for "Yes" anyway.

"Okay!" She said, and Nisroc and to resist the urge to groan.

'Cause that's what she did for the longest time, she just kept on talking and talking. It was as if he had broken through a dam and was paying the price by being flooded over by her words.

It was aggravating… Well… at least it was at first.

After a while, Nisroc couldn't help but… Listen to her words, and in some sort of bizarre way, that he could never in many years to come, describe himself. He tried tuning her out, but her words still rang about him like an annoying fly, so he figured he might as well pay attention. After hearing her ramble on, following many different rabbit trails in her topics of conversation was annoying at first. But he soon found it was because he wanted to hear the outcome of the first story, rather than have her just end her blather.

But after some time, he discovered that she got distracted rather easily, and soon found her distraction… rather… cute.

Cute… That was a word Nisroc had never believed himself to ever say in his lifetime. He had heard it spoken tons of times, but had never really understood the title. But with Cindy, he suddenly understood everything. And it was a good feeling.

But soon, he found her words trailing off, and being slurred together. He also saw that her eyes were heavy with sleep, and it was obvious that she was trying to fight off her tiredness.

"You're tired." Nisroc said, stating the obvious.

"No… I'm… Not." Cindy said unconvincingly, made even worse when she yawned, then curled up next to him even more so, making him cringe a little.

"Yes you are. You need rest." Nisroc said, shocking him. Why should he care about her well being?

"Okay… I guess I'll go home now." Cindy said, sitting up finally.

"If that is what's best." Nisroc said.

"But not just yet!" Cindy said, making him flinch at her words, what now?!

"I want you to promise me for real that we can see each other again. When I come back tomorrow, I don't want to be alone again… I… I don't want you to leave me alone again." This took Nisroc back a bit at her words, but he supposed if it had to be done for her absence.

"Alright, fine… I-"

"No… You promised me before and you took too long to keep it. Next time, when I come I want you to be here… And if you're not… Then… Then I'll just have to come find you!" She snapped at him, making him cringe. She couldn't come searching for him beyond this point, and part of him hoped that she would threaten to never see him again, but another part of him felt… broken… at the thought.

"Then I swear to you, you will find me here the next day; if that is what you so wish." Nisroc swore to her, feeling both forced, and that energetic light feeling again.

She gave him another quick hug, before whispering to him: "Thank you Ni-Ro." And with those words, she jumped out of his arms, and ran off home.

The moment she was out of his sight, Nisroc spread his wings, and took off, his mind muddled with various thoughts, that he couldn't even order out himself.

But there was one thing that was completely certain to Nisroc as he flew back to where he and his brothers nested.

He felt empty where Cindy had left him.

**Have some fluff to make up for the lateness… R&R**


End file.
